We're almost halfway through our summer session, but there's still plenty on offer in the studio! We've got a selection of classes and workshops coming up that are as hot as the weather outside! Looking to brush up on your bench skills? Take Stone Setting: Bead And Flush with April Wood! Want to level up your fabrication? check out Introduction to Containers with J Diamond! Really want to move some metal? Try Forged Spoons with Elliot Keeley! We've got a lot more to look forward to this summer check out a selection of our summer courses below, and our full lineup on our website.
We might be in the peak of summer heat, but fall is on the horizon, and fall classes are on the horizon too! No matter what excites you about making, we've got something exciting for you this fall! Check out our introductory classes like Waxworking 1 or Metals + Jewelry 1, advanced classes like Metals + Jewelry 3 with Andy Lowrie, or new specialty classes like Bench Jewelry with Kyle Johnson. See a selection of our summer courses below, and our full lineup on our website.
Tonight:
Archiving The Legacies Of Black Jewelers
with Lamar Gayles, Jr.
Join us over Zoom Tonight, July 17 at 7PM for a talk by Lamar Gayles, Jr!
As part of the Baltimore Jewelry Center's current exhibition, Waxcast: Creations by Earl Jones we invite you to join us for Archiving the Legacy of Black Jewelers, an exciting online event with Lamar Gayles, Jr. This lecture will explore the importance of preserving and archiving the legacies of Black jewelry artists and their contributions. More broadly the lecture presentation will inform the public of ways to process and handle jewelry-related archival materials. There will be considerations for the preventive conservation of jewelry objects and methods persons can use to detail an artist's life that might not have a large amount of readily available biographical information. The methods in the lecture can be used to explore any artist that might have less biographical or art historical information available on their respective practice.
LaMar Gayles, Jr. (he/him) is an archaeologist, curator, and scholar of material culture whose research centers Black American objects and histories. In this presentation, he’ll share strategies for documenting jewelry-related materials, conserving works, and honoring artists whose stories have been historically underrepresented.
Margo Csipő is a jeweler, illustrator, educator and writer working and teaching out of the Baltimore Jewelry Center. Her practice explores jewelry and masks as vessels for meaning to be emptied and filled by the creator and wearer both physically and metaphorically. This fabrication-heavy, illustrative jewelry is done with the ancient technique scrimshaw, where images are hand scribed or engraved into materials such as mother of pearl, bone, or amber. Processing time and growth through these sequential images, the artist attempts to understand their own myth in flux.
See more of Margo's work and get a piece for yourself in our Metal Shop.
Our next event for our Summer Fundraiser is right around the corner! Join us at Dutch Courage from 6-9 PM on July 31 for BJC Happy Hour. While you're there, try the Wiccan Queen, a limited-time cocktail benefitting the BJC! One dollar from every Wiccan Queen sold will go to us to help support programs you love! RSVP to let them know you're coming and let them know you're with us.
We're aiming to raise $65,000 this summer to support scholarships, residencies, and youth programs, and we can't do it without you! Whether you're attending, participating, or simply spreading the word, every bit of support helps us reach our goal. Come be part of the excitement and help keep the BJC thriving—one dazzling event at a time.
In The Gallery: Waxcast: Creations By Earl Jones
Stop by the gallery to see Waxcast: Creations by Earl Jones, a retrospective of work by Baltimore's own Earl Jones.
Waxcast: Creations by Earl Jones is a retrospective exhibition celebrating the life and extraordinary work of Baltimore artist, entrepreneur, and inventor Earl Jones (1951-2024). The exhibition features Jones’ jewelry, sculpture, and wall hangings, as well as images and ephemera from his multifaceted life. This exhibition displays not only Jones' remarkable work as a jeweler, but also his innovations in the field of jewelry manufacturing and his lifelong support of black creatives here in Baltimore.
Join us on August 7 at 7 PM for a curatorial talk by Allison Gulick and Elliot Keeley, and on August 8from 5-9 PM for a closing reception.
Special thanks to the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artist Portfolios, www.BakerArtist.org, for their support of this project.
